Alzheimer's - Dementia, Author Interviews, Infections, Parkinson's / 22.09.2022
Hospital-Treated Infections And Risk of Later Life Neurodegenerative Diseases
MedicalResearch.com Interview with:
Jiangwei Sun PhD
Postdoctoral researcher
in Prof. Jonas Ludvigsson's group
Department of Medical Epidemiology and Biostatistics
Karolinska Institutet
MedicalResearch.com: What is the background for this study?
Response: A potential infectious etiology has been hypothesized for neurodegenerative diseases, as findings in animal studies have demonstrated that infectious processes might impact pathogenesis, phenotype, and progression of neurodegenerative disease.
The extrapolation of such findings to a human context is however not straightforward. previous studies have mostly examined the role of specific pathogens on a specific neurodegenerative disease, e.g., herpesvirus for Alzheimer’s disease, and influenza, hepatitis C virus, and Helicobacter pylori for PD, with inconclusive results. Although several studies have also assessed associations between infectious diseases and risk of dementia and AD, influence of potential surveillance bias (greater-than-expected surveillance of disease after infections) and reverse causation (due to for example diagnostic delay of neurodegenerative diseases) on the associations was not always fully addressed.
Therefore, whether infection is indeed a risk factor rather a comorbidity or secondary event of neurodegenerative disease remains unknown. In contrast to Alzheimer’s disease, and Parkinson’s disease, the potential link between infection and ALS has been less explored.
(more…)